As a true fan of Film Noir, no movie in this genre (no matter how cheap or how bad) is a waste of my time. However I must confess that I was completely unfamiliar with the character of Michael Shayne as I hadn't read any of Brett Halliday's books nor seen any of the movies until now. I still haven't seen Fox's Lloyd Nolan series, but having just finished the PRC Hugh Beaumont quintet I was pleasantly surprised and rather impressed.
All 5 movies were produced between late 1946 and early 1947. Each was made for less than $100,000 and were shot in one week or less. That's the impressive part. What's surprising was how entertaining they were. I enjoyed the light and humorous touches Beaumont brought to the character and it was a change of pace to see a detective with a glass jaw who got knocked cold more than once in every movie. While guessing the murderers was pretty easy, the whys and wherefores kept me watching until the final credits.
Shaynes' girl Friday, secretary Phyllis aka Angel, was played by 3 different actresses with varying results. Cheryl Walker who was in the first 3 films (MURDER IS MY BUSINESS, LARCENY IN HER HEART, THREE ON A TICKET) was by far the best while Kathryn Adams (BLONDE FOR A DAY) , incidentally Beaumont's real life wife, was next best, while Trudy Marshall in the final film (TOO MANY WINNERS) fell to the rear but that was more the fault of the writers than it was her's. Ralph Dunn played Shayne's nemesis Inspector Rafferty in 4 of the 5 movies.
I thought that LARCENY IN HER HEART, with its scenes in the sanitarium, was the best of the set followed by BLONDE FOR A DAY, MURDER IS MY BUSINESS, and THREE ON A TICKET, with TOO MANY WINNERS falling into last place. All 5 of the films were helmed by PRC's most prolific director Sam Newfield who was the brother of producer and PRC boss Siegfried Neufeld (the family's original name). All 5 films clock in at under 70 minutes making them true B movies.
Up until now the PRC Michael Shayne mysteries were only available in second generation or worse 16mm dubs that had poor sound and uneven picture quality. Now, thanks to Classic Flix who did a 2k digital restoration on the best surviving materials, these movies look better than they ever have (or ever will, for that matter). They come at a great price so the only drawback is that there are no subtitles which the older I get, the more I appreciate having them. Check these out and I'll bet you'll find them a worthwhile discovery as well. For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.
